Manufacturers and designers of integrated circuit devices, such as memory controllers or processors, continue to increase the amount of signals that these integrated circuit devices can transmit and/or receive over a period of time (bandwidth). For example, processors having multiple cores have enabled, at least in part, increased processor bandwidth that may be used in communicating with integrated circuit memory devices. Some have predicted that processor bandwidth will double every three years for the next ten years.
However, some do not believe that integrated circuit memory devices will be able to increase their bandwidth to match the perceived increases in processor bandwidth. The operating times of integrated circuit memory device cells or transistors, such as a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) cells, may not increase fast enough to meet future processor bandwidths. DRAM cell density may also not increase fast enough. Some have predicted that annual increases in memory cell density will be significantly reduced.
Thus, there is a need for memory system topologies having a high bandwidth that can keep pace with increases in processor bandwidth.